by Leela Ash
Mark gestured over his shoulder toward the intersection. “Right there. Before the light. Never made it through. Maybe it was taking too long to change and whoever was driving got impatient and decided they could walk to where they were going a lot faster.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Gavin said, the dragon within suddenly emerging full force. It was urging him forward. To go to the spot where the car had been discovered. Where Naomi had been taken. There was no doubt in his mind whatsoever that she had been abducted. The question now was, by whom?
Whoever it was, Gavin had no choice but to allow the dragon to take over and lead him toward the intersection. Mark watched from where he stood, probably thinking Gavin had gone insane. Regardless of what anybody thought, the dragon needed to know what they were dealing with. To get a feel for the energy surrounding the area where Naomi had last been seen.
He caught a distinct odor immediately and a surge of nausea tore through him. Hevels. They had been known to roam the Earth, occasionally locating those with Loni blood and doing unspeakable things to harness their power. It was a disgusting race as far as Gavin was concerned. They cared only about causing pain to others and did nothing to contribute positivity to the universe. He wanted so badly to understand why he was meant to accept them and love them as his own in the eyes of the Elders. They were convinced that no being, or race, for that matter, should be extinguished. Because there was a beautiful whole that would ultimately work toward peace. And if creatures like the Hevels were punished for simply acting as they were naturally designed to act, it would be a great injustice and it would only serve to put more negativity into the world.
That was why, rather than being killed or imprisoned when the Elders falsely accused the six Dragon shifter men of treason, they were sent to Earth and forced to adapt to a new way of living. They had each been given a divine purpose, in secret, and if they were unable to fulfil those purposes, there would be no chance for pardon or potential return to their home planet.
The fact that they had found the Loni descendants on Earth had come as a big surprise; at least, finding so many of them that had actually served to put sacred children into the universe had. The Elders hadn’t said anything about each of them finding a fated mate here, but then again, it wasn’t really their place to say who was meant to mate with whom and when. But Gavin was starting to wonder if maybe the Elders knew that the six men were meant to be on Earth to find their fated mates and to hold up the fabric of shifter magic throughout the universe by siring the sacred children.
He couldn’t waste time thinking about any of that now, though. All he knew was that the Hevels had the woman he was fated to spend his life with and he had to protect her at all costs.
The dragon sprang into action, though it was aware of Mark watching him curiously from beside his truck. He would have to go about this carefully. But he was going to need the equipment from the base to help him locate Naomi before it was too late.
“Well, that’s all very strange,” Gavin said casually, climbing back into his truck, though, on the inside, the dragon was nearly bursting at the seams with the restless energy. It had one single goal in mind. Get to Naomi. Forget all the petty idle chit-chat. Focus on Naomi. “I’ve got to get going. See you, Mark.”’
“Right,” Mark said with a nod. “Good to see you, Gavin. Take care of yourself.”
Gavin nodded absently. It wasn’t himself that he had to take care of. It was Naomi. And he was going to find her, no matter what.
14.
When Naomi came to, she was immediately hit with a strange smell unlike anything she had ever experienced before. It was almost like a combination of garbage and tangerine. When she was able to open her eyes, she was just met with more blackness.
“What…”
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, a loud hissing sound met her ears and she let out a startled cry. The citrusy scent became more dominant and she found herself feeling light-headed and woozy. But rather than blacking out again, her vision became fuzzy as a bright light snapped on suddenly. She tried to sit up but found herself paralyzed and helpless. What the hell was going on?
“This is her, Cayden,” a disturbingly familiar voice murmured. It was the old man. It had to be. “Slippery little thing.”’
“I can’t believe you weren’t able to apprehend her before now,” Cayden said, hovering his face over hers. If she could move, she would have gasped. The man that Sandra had almost hit. They had gotten her. She had spent so much time trying to convince herself it was impossible that they could reach her but, it wasn’t. They had won. What was going to happen to her? Naomi’s heartbeat quickened in her chest. She was terrified.
“You don’t understand. Some of them have those blasted protections on them. They can last for centuries, generation after generation. Whoever she descended from had to have been very powerful. There is a reason I have been following her for so long.”
“Well, you’re lucky they got tired of waiting around and sent me out here to help you. We already caught three this month! What have you been doing down here by yourself all this time? Twiddling your thumbs?”
The old man was clearly furious, but rather than speaking out his frustration, he redirected the conversation. “She is fascinating, you know. I don’t think we could have done this without proper help, though. You can’t just be all self-congratulatory. We had assistance.”
“You want me to thank a human? Never. We were the ones who abducted her. We are the ones who will get the reward for it. We owe Stuart nothing.”
Naomi’s blood curdled at the mention of her ex. Stu? Stu had helped these evil men find her?
No, they weren’t men. They couldn’t possibly be. There was something more going on. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she could feel it. They were different. In the same way Gavin and TJ were somehow different. In the same way they were talking about her being different. But she still didn’t quite understand how it all came together. Or where in the hell she was.
“So, what do we do with her now?” the old man asked. Cayden smirked down into Naomi’s face and she saw the blurred lines of his smile through whatever drugs they had pumped her up with.
“We make sure she is what we think she is. Test her just to be safe. The boss is getting really fed up with the guys who send back girls they think are Lonis but aren’t. Do you know how many resources are wasted in trying to milk them of their power? It’s such a waste!”
“The boss can trust my judgment. I have known since I laid eyes on her. I can feel it! Can’t you? The power is so strong. Intoxicating. I have dreamt of the moment we got to bring her back home for years now. What the hell else could be tested that I don’t know about?”
Cayden smirked. “Come along and you will find out.”
He clapped, and another hissing sound filled the room. This time, though, it was followed by loud metallic whirring and soon, Naomi could feel herself being transported. Apparently, she was on a wheeled bed, or perhaps a board of some sort. Where were they taking her? What were they going to do with her when they got her there? She did her best to struggle against her paralysis, but it was futile. She remained motionless on the surface she was laying on, silently cursing her abductors. Someone would get them for this. Gavin. Gavin would come.
The thought was sudden and ridiculous, and she cringed inwardly for having had it. Why would Gavin come? How would he even know where to look for her if he even knew she was missing? She closed her eyes and tried to think back to the time when she had been taken. There had been nobody around for miles, and she was fairly certain her abductors had done something that would prevent anybody from seeing what they had done. She couldn’t logically explain it; her rational brain had given up on trying to piece this puzzle together long ago. No, all she knew was that she wanted Gavin. He was the only one who might make her feel better. And that was important.
“Engh,” she managed.
The small, high-pitched sound
gurgled from her throat and barely caused a ripple in the movement of the men that were carting her forward. They seemed unphased by her being alive and uncomfortable. It was chilling, really, to have so little regard for a living creature. But then, was she really surprised? They had abducted her, after all. What did she think they were going to do, invite her to tea?
Finally, the wheeled bed came to a stop in another room. This one was dimly lit with a soft lavender light. It would have been kind of beautiful under better circumstances. But as it was, the whole situation was surreal and eerie.
She was lifted suddenly by the shoulders and ankles and placed on a different surface, this one much larger. She couldn’t feel anything physically; the paralysis was intense. It spanned out throughout her body to the point where she couldn’t even tell whether the room was hot or cold. Whatever they had drugged her with was strong. Too bad it wasn’t strong enough to quell her fear. But she had a strange feeling they purposely wouldn’t have wanted it to.
“Hook this up to her wrist,” Cayden demanded, thrusting a handful of wires over Naomi’s face toward the old man. “We need to know her vital signs. If they read like a human, then we have to put her back and wipe her memory clean.”
Wipe her memory clean? Naomi’s stomach dropped. Could they do that? And what did they mean, if her vital signs read like a human? She was a human. What would make them think otherwise? Just what in the hell was she dealing with here?
“These readings…,” Cayden said suddenly, the tone of his voice bringing a wave of fear to the forefront of Naomi’s mind. “Vergil, did you see this?”
The old man let out a grunt of satisfaction. “I told you. I know what I know. You youngsters don’t know the half of what your elders could teach you. Relying on all those gizmos and gadgets. Not relying on your own damn senses and figuring things out in the real world. It’s a shame, you know. A real–”
A shrill beeping cut him off and soon, Naomi was being turned onto her side. “She tried to kill me!” Vergil exclaimed, his voice choked up and gasping. “The little bitch tried to−”
“She’s magnificent,” Cayden murmured, cutting off Vergil’s complaints. He didn’t seem even a little bit concerned about his companion. He only cared about whatever it was that had just happened.
Who had tried to kill him? As far as Naomi knew, they were the only ones in the room. And she was completely helpless. How was it that she could possibly try and attack anybody? She couldn’t even move. Was there somebody else there that she didn’t know about? Was she in even more danger than she had realized originally? Just how much danger was there, really? Why wasn’t Gavin there to protect her?
She cut herself off from the thought. It wasn’t Gavin’s job to worry about her. She was an adult. They weren’t dating or anything. Why had she gotten so attached to him so quickly? There was some part of her that felt like she wouldn’t mind spending every day with him for the rest of their lives. But that was incredibly needy and unhealthy. It was probably just because she had gotten out of such a bad relationship that the first sign of affection she received she had latched on to. She couldn’t let herself love him this way. It wasn’t fair to either of them. It just wasn’t.
She scoffed inwardly. Leave it to her to think about random romantic relationships – or lack thereof, as it were – when she was paralyzed and bound in a foreign place with two abductors ready to do who knows what to her. Shouldn’t she be more afraid? Where was her common sense? She could be killed at any moment. Why wasn’t she more concerned about that?
But she’d had a strange sense of peace about her ever since the old man had claimed she had tried to kill him. A feeling as if maybe things were going to work out fine. There was still the chance of something unpredictable happening. No matter what it was. Maybe she would get out of there alive, after all.
“You’re really not going to do anything about this?” Vergil exclaimed, his voice high-pitched and angry. “The little bitch wants me dead.”
“If she really wanted you dead, you would be dead,” Cayden said dismissively. “The power, I have never seen anything like it.”
“That’s because you’re young and inexperienced. They’re all over the place if you know what to look for. Maybe one day you will shut your damn trap and listen to me for once.”
Cayden was blatantly ignoring Vergil at this point and rounded the bed to peer down into Naomi’s face. “Do it again,” he demanded. “Do it to me.”
Now, Naomi was completely confused. What the hell was he talking about? What had she done?
“You numbskull. That girl ain’t even awake yet. You can’t expect her to control herself right off the bat like that! Moron. I’m telling ya, you kids these days just−”
“Shut up!” Cayden barked, his voice echoing off the walls and causing Naomi to start inwardly. Her body didn’t budge, but her heart was drumming wildly in her chest. The man had a violent temper, that much was obvious. And being this close to the disturbing man that Sandra had nearly hit was having all sorts of effects on her. She wanted to run away. Or cry. Or scream. But she was motionless. Why did he have to be so close to her right now? Why couldn’t they just leave her alone? Why the hell was she even there? None of it made any sense.
“We don’t want her woke up yet,” the old man said, his voice low and even. Almost patronizing. “You know what the boss will do if we fuck this up. She’s a powerful one. That charge could last us decades on her alone. You know how amazing that could be? We could use her for the power surge. The one that will help to put us ahead of the game and put all those good for nothing do-gooders out of their misery.”
Cayden was sneering, his gaze pulled away from Naomi now and focused on some point in the distance that she couldn’t see.
“Yes, she would be perfect. They won’t know what hit them. We have formed quite a powerful alliance with the other like-minded races across the universe. Chaos will reign!”
The two men let out low, eerie cries that were in perfect harmony. Naomi would have run then, if she could have. But it wasn’t an option. She was still paralyzed. Finally, when they were done with their strange war cry, Cayden sneered down at her once more.
“Now,” he said. “We will get a measurement to send back to the boss. We will know exactly what we’re dealing with and just how much we will get in return.”
15.
Gavin let out a sigh of frustration. This was taking too long. The device should have picked up on their frequency by now. Then, as if by fate or magic, the device began to blink wildly as it spit out coordinates for every Hevel in the area. There weren’t very many, and there was one sighting that caught his eye. It was a small cluster. About three Hevels in one area, which was very peculiar. They were beings who were full of animosity, even amongst themselves, and preferred working alone far more than anything else they could do with company.
The thought of more than one of them in an area was definitely a red flag, and Gavin wasted no time in shapeshifting to his dragon form. He would fly there. He had no choice. He would go high enough, try and blend into the scenery as much as he could. But he had to get there soon. It was likely they were on a ship, hovering invisibly in the sky somewhere above the lake. It was that, or they were beneath it. Wherever they were, he had to find them before it was too late.
Gavin flared his nostrils as he soared quickly through the clouds, his body pushed to its limits as he tapped into the dragon’s superior speed and urged it ever forward, even more intensely than he had ever done before. It did its best to oblige, though it was clear it was taking a lot more energy than was readily available.
Rather than being concerned about it, however, he was only grateful that he was able to pick up enough speed that he was soon in a position to smell the distinct odor of the Hevels. They really were vermin as far as Gavin was concerned. And vermin had to be exterminated. When he found them, he would show no mercy. Especially if they had Naomi. If a single hair on her head was harmed, they would
never know what hit them.
The strength of the scent led Gavin north, where he ultimately collided with a large, invisible object. It had to be the ship. He was sure of it.
And, just as suddenly as he had discovered the ship, so too did the dragon sense the presence of the woman he loved. Naomi.
Gavin wasted no time before unleashing his fiery breath weapon at the ship, creating a doorway where there was none. He realized afterward just how reckless the move could have been. If the ship’s control panel or motor had been nearby, it could easily have crashed and burned in the water, and he would have lost Naomi simply because of his own stupidity and nothing else. He was glad the ship stayed in the air, and only one pathetic little alarm bell began to sound.
He knew there weren’t all that many Hevels on board, and if they were brave enough to seek out the cause of commotion, he would destroy them all until he knew Naomi was safe. As far as he was concerned, they were all enemies. They had made themselves as such. There wasn’t much he could do about it now.
But to his surprise, nobody came to see what had happened. It had barely registered as a threat, apparently. Gavin ducked inside, his large dragon body seeming a bit out of place in the tiny compartment he had blown open with his breath weapon.
As soon as he had boarded, he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt where Naomi was. He had tuned into her; his dragon’s heightened senses easily able to track her down by her scent. He could get to her in just a few moments, if he was careful. Why was everything taking so damn long?
He squeezed through the corridors, following his lover’s scent until finally, he stopped outside a large doorway. Inside, he could sense the sickening energy of a device that was commonly used to drain the Loni of their power for restraint. On a table in the center of the room lay Naomi. On either side of her, two Hevels, one lanky and young, one gaunt and old, were gazing at her as if she were some sort of test subject. Which, technically, she was.
